photo courtesy: Selina Ho
裝置舞台
《一個通往世界舞台的盒子》是裝置藝術家王浩然與文化地理學家Anya Ventura以實驗性手法展現的歷史想像。這兩位藝術工作者現正旅居香港。
學者Meaghan Morris曾寫道：「對歷史的渴求並非人類的原始需要。我們是經過教育才學會渴求歷史的，並了解到歷史正是我們所匱乏的事物，這種特殊的渴求和匱乏的教育與民族主義緊密相連，促使人們去掌控變化。」在探索渴求與匱乏的辯證關係時，我們會自問：我們希望或者需要從歷史中獲得什麼？為何需要夢想或想像歷史以另一個方向發展？西區是一個大規模重建的場域，而最受重建影響的是街坊老舖和本地小型作業，他們為了配合大環境的發展而被逼消失。我們希望以舞台裝置，將不為人所知、卻真摯動人的中西區歷史呈現出來。
在香港面臨中國民族主義、後殖民主義及全球主義這三種因素的影響時，本地人所指的「本土」概念，成為香港回歸後港人獨特身份的符號，意義深遠。同時，「本土」成為「傳統」或「過去」的同義詞，與旨在竭力打造香港成為世界級都市的大規模重建工程形成鮮明對比。在大規模重建工程的所在地西區，香港本土文化的意義和價值備受質疑。
中西區的重建工程力推以懷舊方式詮釋本土，以彰顯香港的獨特地位和推銷這個現代化都市。在此過程中，漂亮地拔取本土元素，開始了社會進步的線性敘述，也以全球現代化作為完結，而歷史被演繹是為了將來的憧憬作好準備。面對急速的城市變遷，保護本土文化的重要性毋庸置疑，但我們且挑戰本土的概念被矮化、定型、挪用及商品化，以成為令地方消失、及社會進步的藉口。透過訪談和研究，我們希望發掘西區的微觀歷史，以便在近期重建工程的堂皇發展中，以及基於匱乏的懷舊情緒對本土文化作出僵化的解讀以外，提出另一種方案。
我們研究的重點是展現當地店舖的產物及所涉的社會生活：這些物品的歷史對西區街坊的日常生活具有特殊意義，例如竹製筆筒，鐵皮郵箱，藤製雨傘，精工手製傢具。我們試圖突破傳統歷史調查的局限，探索這些物品／產品／工藝品對西區的集體意識所產生更為隱秘的影響。我們尋找真實與虛幻、主觀與客觀、本土與全球、傳統與現代的界限模糊不清的歷史。
《中西區的重建工程力推以懷舊方式詮釋本土，以彰顯香港的獨特地位和推銷這個現代化都市。在此過程中，漂亮地拔取本土元素，開始了社會進步的線性敘述，也以全球現代化作為完結，而歷史被演繹是為了將來的憧憬作好準備。面對急速的城市變遷，保護本土文化的重要性毋庸置疑，但我們且挑戰本土的概念被矮化、定型、挪用及商品化，以成為令地方消失、及社會進步的藉口。透過訪談和研究，我們希望發掘西區的微觀歷史，以便在近期重建工程的堂皇發展中，以及基於匱乏的懷舊情緒對本土文化作出僵化的解讀以外，提出另一種方案。
我們研究的重點是展現當地店舖的產物及所涉的社會生活：這些物品的歷史對西區街坊的日常生活具有特殊意義，例如竹製筆筒，鐵皮郵箱，藤製雨傘，精工手製傢具。我們試圖突破傳統歷史調查的局限，探索這些物品／產品／工藝品對西區的集體意識所產生更為隱秘的影響。我們尋找真實與虛幻、主觀與客觀、本土與全球、傳統與現代的界限模糊不清的歷史。
我們的研究以建造這個舞台裝置告終，其中拼湊了中國傳統建築、香港物質文化、懷舊的設計和軼事中的影像。空蕩蕩的舞台作為美學對象和歷史集合呈現，令人想起班傑明所說的「內部的虛幻」。我們想像這個舞台是佛教廟宇的一部分，遊行花車的一部分，路邊紀念碑的一部分及葬禮的一部分：那無定形的文化結構，作為面向歷史回憶的超現實所在。
展覽期間，舞台自由開放予社區大眾，歡迎使用。空蕩蕩的舞台令公眾有機會參與構造歷史和知識，藝術家留下的印記將被各社區組織的要求和期望所取代。我們希望創造一種實體結構，在展現西區有意識和無意識的敍述／歷史渴求的同時，藉此成型。
A Box in the Theatre of the World--Adrain Wong+Anya Ventura
Installation theatre
A Box in the Theatre of the World is an experimental historical imagining by installation artist Adrian Wong and cultural geographer Anya Ventura, both expatriate residents of Hong Kong.
The scholar Meaghan Morris has written, “Wanting history is not a primal human desire. We have to be taught to want it, to learn that history is the name of something we lack, and this particular pedagogy of desire and lack has been intimately bound up with nationalism as a project aspiring to govern change.” Exploring this dialectic of desire and lack, we ask: What do we want or need from history? Why is it important to dream or imagine history differently? Our installation aims to give physical shape to the untold, emotive histories traced in the Western district of Hong Kong Island, as expressed by the local small business-owners and craftsmen whose livelihoods are being eroded by redevelopment efforts.
As Hong Kong negotiates the triumvirate effects of Chinese nationalism, post-colonialism, and globalism, nativist notions of the “local” emerge as a profound signifier of a unique post-handover identity. At the same time, “local” has become synonymous with “traditional” or “of the past,” functioning as a counterpoint to the massive redevelopment efforts aimed at cementing Hong Kong’s status as a world-class city. In the Western district, a site of massive redevelopment, the meaning and value of Hong Kong’s local culture is highly contested.
In these redevelopment initiatives, nostalgic interpretations of the local are utilized to uniquely identify and market the modern metropolis. Colorful extractions of the local form the origin of a linear narrative of progress that finds its completion in a global modernity – with the past being performed in preparation for a vision of the future. While the importance of preserving local culture in the face of rapid urban change is undeniable, we challenge how notions of the local may be reduced, fixed, appropriated, and commodified in service of a particular story of disappearance and progress. Through a process of interview and research, we aim to uncover micro-histories of the Western District with the intention of proposing an alternative to both the sanitized omniculture of recent development efforts and static readings of local culture predicated on nostalgic feelings of lack.
Central to our research is charting the social life of the objects produced by these local businesses: items whose histories are of particular significance to the daily experience of life in the Western District (eg. bamboo pencil-holders, tin mailboxes, rattan umbrellas, hand-made cabinetry). We seek to push beyond the limitations of conventional historical inquiry to tap into the more mystical significance that these objects/products/artifacts have taken on in the collective consciousness of the region. We seek a history that blurs the lines between fact and fiction, subjective and objective, local and global, traditional and modern.
Our research culminates in the construction of this theatrical stage-set which incorporate features of traditional Chinese architecture, Hong Kong material culture, outmoded design elements, and imagery from collected anecdotes. Evoking Benjamin’s “phantasmagoria of the interior,” the blank stage is presented as aesthetic object and historical assemblage. We conceive of the stage as part Buddhist temple, part parade float, part roadside memorial, and part funeral procession: a culturally amorphous structure designed to house and display the often surreal contents of historical memory.
The stage is available for community use over the course of the exhibition. The blank stage generates new possibilities for public participation in constructing history and knowledge, where the artists’ authorial presence is ceded to the needs and ambitions of various community organizations. We hope to create a physical structure that both gives shape and is shaped by the conscious and unconscious narratives/historical desires of the region.
王浩然於美國芝加哥出生及長大，現回流香港創作。他原接受心理學研究訓練，於二零零三年獲頒史丹福大學碩士學位；其後他繼續在耶魯大學學習，於二零零六年取得藝術碩士學位。他第一個個人展覽《A Fear Is This》，以黑色幽默角度審視中國傳統禁忌，理解城市生活的危機。零六年與Samantha Culp合作組織「大使計劃」，嘗試以研究為基調的方法論來探索跨文化經驗。他們視自己為「煽動者，建築師，最終成為外國領土中夢想及現實、自己及他人、童年及長大後一切的外交人員」。王浩然現在洛杉磯的加州大學教授雕塑，他最近回港完成這件裝置作品。
網站: embassyprojects.org
Adrian Wong Ho Yin was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and is now based in Hong Kong. Originally trained in research psychology, he received a Master’s degree from Stanford University in 2003. He continued his post-graduate studies at Yale University, where he received an M.F.A. in 2005. His first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, A Fear Is This, offered a darkly humorous view into the taboos of Chinese custom and perceived risks of urban living. Together with Samantha Culp, he formed Embassy Projects in 2006, which uses a research-based methodology to explore “trans-cultural” experiences. They see themselves as “agitators, architects, and ultimately, diplomats between the foreign lands of dreams and reality, self and other, childhood and everything that comes after.” Presently, Adrian has recently returned to Hong Kong from Los Angeles, where he has been teaching sculpture and theory at UCLA, to execute this installation.
website:: embassyprojects.org
《一個通往世界舞台的盒子》是裝置藝術家王浩然與文化地理學家Anya Ventura以實驗性手法展現的歷史想像。這兩位藝術工作者現正旅居香港。
學者Meaghan Morris曾寫道：「對歷史的渴求並非人類的原始需要。我們是經過教育才學會渴求歷史的，並了解到歷史正是我們所匱乏的事物，這種特殊的渴求和匱乏的教育與民族主義緊密相連，促使人們去掌控變化。」在探索渴求與匱乏的辯證關係時，我們會自問：我們希望或者需要從歷史中獲得什麼？為何需要夢想或想像歷史以另一個方向發展？西區是一個大規模重建的場域，而最受重建影響的是街坊老舖和本地小型作業，他們為了配合大環境的發展而被逼消失。我們希望以舞台裝置，將不為人所知、卻真摯動人的中西區歷史呈現出來。
在香港面臨中國民族主義、後殖民主義及全球主義這三種因素的影響時，本地人所指的「本土」概念，成為香港回歸後港人獨特身份的符號，意義深遠。同時，「本土」成為「傳統」或「過去」的同義詞，與旨在竭力打造香港成為世界級都市的大規模重建工程形成鮮明對比。在大規模重建工程的所在地西區，香港本土文化的意義和價值備受質疑。
中西區的重建工程力推以懷舊方式詮釋本土，以彰顯香港的獨特地位和推銷這個現代化都市。在此過程中，漂亮地拔取本土元素，開始了社會進步的線性敘述，也以全球現代化作為完結，而歷史被演繹是為了將來的憧憬作好準備。面對急速的城市變遷，保護本土文化的重要性毋庸置疑，但我們且挑戰本土的概念被矮化、定型、挪用及商品化，以成為令地方消失、及社會進步的藉口。透過訪談和研究，我們希望發掘西區的微觀歷史，以便在近期重建工程的堂皇發展中，以及基於匱乏的懷舊情緒對本土文化作出僵化的解讀以外，提出另一種方案。
我們研究的重點是展現當地店舖的產物及所涉的社會生活：這些物品的歷史對西區街坊的日常生活具有特殊意義，例如竹製筆筒，鐵皮郵箱，藤製雨傘，精工手製傢具。我們試圖突破傳統歷史調查的局限，探索這些物品／產品／工藝品對西區的集體意識所產生更為隱秘的影響。我們尋找真實與虛幻、主觀與客觀、本土與全球、傳統與現代的界限模糊不清的歷史。
《中西區的重建工程力推以懷舊方式詮釋本土，以彰顯香港的獨特地位和推銷這個現代化都市。在此過程中，漂亮地拔取本土元素，開始了社會進步的線性敘述，也以全球現代化作為完結，而歷史被演繹是為了將來的憧憬作好準備。面對急速的城市變遷，保護本土文化的重要性毋庸置疑，但我們且挑戰本土的概念被矮化、定型、挪用及商品化，以成為令地方消失、及社會進步的藉口。透過訪談和研究，我們希望發掘西區的微觀歷史，以便在近期重建工程的堂皇發展中，以及基於匱乏的懷舊情緒對本土文化作出僵化的解讀以外，提出另一種方案。
我們研究的重點是展現當地店舖的產物及所涉的社會生活：這些物品的歷史對西區街坊的日常生活具有特殊意義，例如竹製筆筒，鐵皮郵箱，藤製雨傘，精工手製傢具。我們試圖突破傳統歷史調查的局限，探索這些物品／產品／工藝品對西區的集體意識所產生更為隱秘的影響。我們尋找真實與虛幻、主觀與客觀、本土與全球、傳統與現代的界限模糊不清的歷史。
我們的研究以建造這個舞台裝置告終，其中拼湊了中國傳統建築、香港物質文化、懷舊的設計和軼事中的影像。空蕩蕩的舞台作為美學對象和歷史集合呈現，令人想起班傑明所說的「內部的虛幻」。我們想像這個舞台是佛教廟宇的一部分，遊行花車的一部分，路邊紀念碑的一部分及葬禮的一部分：那無定形的文化結構，作為面向歷史回憶的超現實所在。
展覽期間，舞台自由開放予社區大眾，歡迎使用。空蕩蕩的舞台令公眾有機會參與構造歷史和知識，藝術家留下的印記將被各社區組織的要求和期望所取代。我們希望創造一種實體結構，在展現西區有意識和無意識的敍述／歷史渴求的同時，藉此成型。
A Box in the Theatre of the World--Adrain Wong+Anya Ventura
Installation theatre
A Box in the Theatre of the World is an experimental historical imagining by installation artist Adrian Wong and cultural geographer Anya Ventura, both expatriate residents of Hong Kong.
The scholar Meaghan Morris has written, “Wanting history is not a primal human desire. We have to be taught to want it, to learn that history is the name of something we lack, and this particular pedagogy of desire and lack has been intimately bound up with nationalism as a project aspiring to govern change.” Exploring this dialectic of desire and lack, we ask: What do we want or need from history? Why is it important to dream or imagine history differently? Our installation aims to give physical shape to the untold, emotive histories traced in the Western district of Hong Kong Island, as expressed by the local small business-owners and craftsmen whose livelihoods are being eroded by redevelopment efforts.
As Hong Kong negotiates the triumvirate effects of Chinese nationalism, post-colonialism, and globalism, nativist notions of the “local” emerge as a profound signifier of a unique post-handover identity. At the same time, “local” has become synonymous with “traditional” or “of the past,” functioning as a counterpoint to the massive redevelopment efforts aimed at cementing Hong Kong’s status as a world-class city. In the Western district, a site of massive redevelopment, the meaning and value of Hong Kong’s local culture is highly contested.
In these redevelopment initiatives, nostalgic interpretations of the local are utilized to uniquely identify and market the modern metropolis. Colorful extractions of the local form the origin of a linear narrative of progress that finds its completion in a global modernity – with the past being performed in preparation for a vision of the future. While the importance of preserving local culture in the face of rapid urban change is undeniable, we challenge how notions of the local may be reduced, fixed, appropriated, and commodified in service of a particular story of disappearance and progress. Through a process of interview and research, we aim to uncover micro-histories of the Western District with the intention of proposing an alternative to both the sanitized omniculture of recent development efforts and static readings of local culture predicated on nostalgic feelings of lack.
Central to our research is charting the social life of the objects produced by these local businesses: items whose histories are of particular significance to the daily experience of life in the Western District (eg. bamboo pencil-holders, tin mailboxes, rattan umbrellas, hand-made cabinetry). We seek to push beyond the limitations of conventional historical inquiry to tap into the more mystical significance that these objects/products/artifacts have taken on in the collective consciousness of the region. We seek a history that blurs the lines between fact and fiction, subjective and objective, local and global, traditional and modern.
Our research culminates in the construction of this theatrical stage-set which incorporate features of traditional Chinese architecture, Hong Kong material culture, outmoded design elements, and imagery from collected anecdotes. Evoking Benjamin’s “phantasmagoria of the interior,” the blank stage is presented as aesthetic object and historical assemblage. We conceive of the stage as part Buddhist temple, part parade float, part roadside memorial, and part funeral procession: a culturally amorphous structure designed to house and display the often surreal contents of historical memory.
The stage is available for community use over the course of the exhibition. The blank stage generates new possibilities for public participation in constructing history and knowledge, where the artists’ authorial presence is ceded to the needs and ambitions of various community organizations. We hope to create a physical structure that both gives shape and is shaped by the conscious and unconscious narratives/historical desires of the region.
王浩然於美國芝加哥出生及長大，現回流香港創作。他原接受心理學研究訓練，於二零零三年獲頒史丹福大學碩士學位；其後他繼續在耶魯大學學習，於二零零六年取得藝術碩士學位。他第一個個人展覽《A Fear Is This》，以黑色幽默角度審視中國傳統禁忌，理解城市生活的危機。零六年與Samantha Culp合作組織「大使計劃」，嘗試以研究為基調的方法論來探索跨文化經驗。他們視自己為「煽動者，建築師，最終成為外國領土中夢想及現實、自己及他人、童年及長大後一切的外交人員」。王浩然現在洛杉磯的加州大學教授雕塑，他最近回港完成這件裝置作品。
網站: embassyprojects.org
Adrian Wong Ho Yin was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and is now based in Hong Kong. Originally trained in research psychology, he received a Master’s degree from Stanford University in 2003. He continued his post-graduate studies at Yale University, where he received an M.F.A. in 2005. His first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, A Fear Is This, offered a darkly humorous view into the taboos of Chinese custom and perceived risks of urban living. Together with Samantha Culp, he formed Embassy Projects in 2006, which uses a research-based methodology to explore “trans-cultural” experiences. They see themselves as “agitators, architects, and ultimately, diplomats between the foreign lands of dreams and reality, self and other, childhood and everything that comes after.” Presently, Adrian has recently returned to Hong Kong from Los Angeles, where he has been teaching sculpture and theory at UCLA, to execute this installation.
website:: embassyprojects.org
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